According to a report released jointly by the country’s watchdog and the nonprofit consumer group, major department stores, large-scale supermarkets and other outlets that are mostly run by leading conglomerates took profit margins of 38.5 percent on their sales of hanwoo, or Korean beef.

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The report showed that 130 restaurants surveyed are also reluctant to decrease steak prices. Of the restaurants surveyed, only 12 have lowered prices of their sirloin and rib dishes over the past six months, while nine raised them. The rest of the restaurants left their prices unchanged.

It's the stupid middlemen. There are WAY too many middlemen in this country. Whereas you can buy steak online direct from a rancher in Nebraska in the US, it's impossible here because the harabojis that raise cattle don't even know what a computer is. I think it also has something to do with subsidies. American beef is subsidized, Korean beef not.

This and I'm willing to bet my next paycheck there's some sort of collusion going on between the conglomerates too. And the Korean "we have the best beef in the world, so we should pay more" mentality. What a load of crap. I've had Australian, American and Korean beef and really Korean beef isn't worth the absurd prices.

And why is local (Korean) beef so pricer than imported (Australian) At Costso I can buy AU steak for 22,000/kg and the same Korean steak is 50,000/kg. Seems backwards considering how they ridiculously priced other imported good are

And why is local (Korean) beef so pricer than imported (Australian) At Costso I can buy AU steak for 22,000/kg and the same Korean steak is 50,000/kg. Seems backwards considering how they ridiculously priced other imported good are

I'll eat Aussie grass-fed beef before I eat the grain-fed crap-shot beef from Korea or the U$A. BTW, is anyone aware of any U$A grass-fed beef that hasn't been shot with bovine growth hormones~being soild here in Korea? Thanks in advance.

Vote with your pocket. Find the nearest US beef seller and just go there.

I'm very happy with the prices of a big butcher shop near me which sells good USDA chuck-eye steaks for 2300won per 100g..........so a good-sized 400g steak is less than 10,000won.

Frozen US pork ribs are sold in packs big enough for 3-4 people for 8000won!!

In most cases though, the Korean food industry is totally messed up. It's been shown that sometimes foods go through 4 or more middlemen before hitting the shelves. No wonder the prices are nuts. But it seems there's very little inclination to do something about these middlemen as it has always been done this way so Koreans feel it's normal, and that you would be taking away people's livelihoods if you interfered.

Add greedy retailers, protections against cheap imports, and a compliant population who tend to think that higher prices = higher quality and you get food prices way above what the GDP of Korea would suggest they should be.

And why is local (Korean) beef so pricer than imported (Australian) At Costso I can buy AU steak for 22,000/kg and the same Korean steak is 50,000/kg. Seems backwards considering how they ridiculously priced other imported good are

From my conversations with Koreans, this is what I gather:

1) Many people have thoroughly bought into the advertising that declares it the best beef in the world. While you'll find Americans and Australians who really believe in their beef, they generally don't take it quite as far.

2) In a similar vein, many Koreans have fallen under the media spell of foreign beef being from sick cattle.

3) As a general rule, Koreans tend to believe that if something is more expensive it is inherently better.

4) It has to be infinitely more expensive to produce beef in this country than it is in Australia, for a whole host of reasons.

So someone who invests in a business and tries to maximize profits is "greedy". But an English teacher who wants to buy everything as cheap as possible, and get paid $40 an hour just to teach English is not. Don't like the greedy retailer, then don't buy. Socialist num nut!

So someone who invests in a business and tries to maximize profits is "greedy". But an English teacher who wants to buy everything as cheap as possible, and get paid $40 an hour just to teach English is not. Don't like the greedy retailer, then don't buy. Socialist num nut!

Yeah, because $40 an hour is the norm...

In regards to the actual pricing: greed doesn't bother me in the least, but collusion does, and I think we can all agree that there's a fair amount of the latter going on here.

So someone who invests in a business and tries to maximize profits is "greedy". But an English teacher who wants to buy everything as cheap as possible, and get paid $40 an hour just to teach English is not. Don't like the greedy retailer, then don't buy. Socialist num nut!

Don't be a silly capitalist ballbag......we're talking about food! People have to buy food, you anti-genius.......lots of poorer Koreans are eating little else but kimchi and rice because your capitalist friends are setting the prices of fruit, veg and meat out of their reach!

I've no problem with unnecessary stuff like handbags and designer kitchen appliances being stupidly priced in Korea......but the price of basic foodstuffs should be controlled.

It really does beggar belief that post-2008 there are still people who think the capitalist system has built-in checks and balances which keeps everything in a kind of natural balance.......nonsense! Anyone with sense should be able to see that.

It really does beggar belief that post-2008 there are still people who think the capitalist system has built-in checks and balances which keeps everything in a kind of natural balance.......nonsense! Anyone with sense should be able to see that.